1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of forming seal patterns on the same base substrate for a plurality of LCD panels and a seal pattern forming device for forming the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are fabricated by forming a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate in a TFT process; forming a color filter substrate in a color filter process, different from the TFT process; performing coating and rubbing processes to form alignment layers on the TFT array and color filter substrates; printing a seal pattern on the TFT array substrate, providing a spacer on the color filter substrate; attaching the TFT array substrate to the color filter substrate via the printed seal pattern, wherein the spacer maintains a uniform cell gap between attached substrates; and injecting a liquid crystal between the attached TFT and color filter substrates. Moreover, a short is provided to connect a common electrode terminal of the color filter substrate to a bonding pad of the TFT array substrate.
To improve the productivity in which LCD panels such as those described above are fabricated, a plurality of unit substrates of a single type (e.g., TFT array substrates or color filter substrates) can be formed on a first base substrate. Subsequently, a complementary base substrate, on which is formed a plurality of complementary unit substrates of a single type (e.g. e.g., color filter substrates or TFT array substrates, respectively), is attached to the first base substrate. Accordingly, a plurality of unit LCD panels are simultaneously formed by attaching the first base substrate to the complementary base substrate.
FIG. 1 illustrates a plan view of a plurality of first unit LCD panels formed on a base substrate, wherein the plurality of first unit LCD panels have a first size. FIG. 2 illustrates a plan view of a plurality of second unit LCD panels formed on a base substrate, wherein the plurality of second unit LCD panels have a second size, greater than the first size.
Referring to FIG. 1, six first-type unit LCD panels 110 having a first size are formed using the same base substrate 100 and are spaced apart from each other by predetermined distances. Referring to FIG. 2, however, only three second-type unit LCD panels 120 having a second size, greater than the first size, can be formed using the same base substrate 100 as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, when the second-type unit LCD panels 120 are formed using the base substrate 100, a portion of the base substrate 100 cannot be used to fabricate more second-type unit LCD panels. As illustrated above, the efficiency with which a base substrate 100 can be used decreases as the size of the unit LCD panels formed on the base substrate 100 increase. Accordingly, the productivity of fabricating unit LCD panels decreases while the cost of fabricating the unit LCD panels increases.